Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones

Introduction-Chapter 3

Reading Check

1. A life-threatening baseball injury; hit in the face with a bat (Introduction)

2. Outcome, process, identity (Chapter 2)

3. Cue, craving, response, reward (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. Very small changes to routine, equipment, and tools (Chapter 1)

2. Our brains take the shortest path to reward and wire us to do things automatically to get the reward. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-7

Reading Check

1. To bring consciousness to unconscious habits. (Chapter 4)

2. I will [BEHAVIOR] at [TIME] in [LOCATION]. (Chapter 5)

3. Pairing a new habit with a current habit (Chapter 5)

Short Answer

1. Stating aloud what you are about to do brings awareness to your habits. Awareness is the beginning of behavioral change. (Chapter 4)

2. Taking a significant action triggers a subsequent action. People decide what to do based on previous actions, so pairing a new habit with a current habit increases the likelihood that a new habit will stick. This truth can be leveraged positively or negatively, as in the case of Diderot. (Chapter 5)

3. Because environment, context, and visual cues are important catalysts for habit formation, it is helpful if people create a dedicated space to practice the habit—one that makes cues hard to miss. (Chapter 6)

Chapters 8-10

Reading Check

1. Pairing a habit that you want to do with a habit that you need to do. (Chapter 8)

2. The close, the many, the powerful OR Our family and friends, our peers and co-workers, our cultural norms. (Chapter 9)

Short Answer

1. Saying “I get to” instead of “I have to.” Thinking about habits in terms of their benefits instead of was difficult about them. Reframing challenges as positive. (Chapters 8-10)

2. Because people want to fit in with the group it is easier to form habits when those habits allow people to feel belonging. Clear asserts that when someone wants to change their habits, it is important to develop relationships with people who have the same habits. (Chapter 9)

Chapters 11-14

Reading Check

1. The students who were graded on quantity produced better photographs while the students who were graded on quality produced worse photographs. (Chapter 11)

2. Humans tend to gravitate toward and repeat the behaviors that take the least amount of work. (Chapter 12)

3. New habits should take less than two minutes to do. (Chapter 13)

Short Answer

1. Motion is planning and researching a habit. Action is performing the actual habit. For example, motion is researching the diet; action is starting the diet. (Chapter 11)

2. Choosing a gym that is on the way to or from work, setting out workout clothes, leaving the yoga mat in the middle of the floor, etc. (Chapter 12)

3. This is a way of drilling our habits down to the most atomic level, the smallest possible behavior becomes the cue for the habit. By drilling down to the smallest possible step in the habit, we make the habit easier to set in motion and eventually automate. For example, by making the habit/ritual of tying your workout shoes you are now ready to go for a run or a walk. (Chapter 13)

Chapters 15-17

Reading Check

1. Early homo sapiens brains evolved to process immediate situations or “immediate return environments;” as a result, humans are less focused on the future. (Chapter 15)

2. It is obvious, attractive, and satisfying. (Chapter 16)

3. “What is rewarded is repeated. What is punished is avoided.” (Chapter 15. Chapter 16 adds that punishment and reward should be immediate for habits to stick.)

Short Answer

1. People are motivated when they know that other people will be looking at them to see if their integrity is intact. Having an accountability partner creates an immediate negative consequence or an immediate positive reward. (Chapter 17)

2. If you miss a habit one time, it’s easier to recover than if you miss several times in a row. (Chapter 16)

Chapters 18-Conclusion

Reading Check

1. Taking on challenges that are “just right.” Avoiding challenges that are so difficult that we are deterred from the activity as well as those that are so easy that we are not challenged to keep going. Approx 4% beyond a person’s ability. (Chapter 19)

2. The Lakers won the NBA Championship. (Chapter 20)

Short Answer

1. It is easier to build and maintain habits that play to one’s physical strengths and/or personality types. One can leverage personal gifts and preferences to make habit formation easier. (Chapter 18)

2. After a while habits become easy and automatic, and if one wants to see continued improvement, they must intentionally reflect on and refine their habits. (Chapter 20)